Below my image of Nova Lupus. Details on the caption. Click on the image for a bigger version.

An animation showing a comparison between my confirmation image and the archive POSS2/UKSTU Red plate (1992-07-30). Click on the thumbnail below for a bigger version:

According to the Cbet 4322 issued on September 27, 2016: "T. Bohlsen (Armidale, NSW, Australia) obtained a noisy spectrogram on Sept. 24 (time unknown) that shows H_alpha emission and also an image that yielded magnitude V = 6.8; he surmised from this that the variable does appear to be a galactic nova."

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Asteroid 2016 RB1 has an estimated size of 7.3 m - 16 m (based on the object's absolute magnitude H=27.8) and it will have a close approach with Earth at about 0.1 LD (Lunar Distances = ~384,000 kilometers) or 0.0003 AU (1 AU = ~150 million kilometers) on 2016, September 7 at 17:20UT and it will reach a peak magnitude of about +12.3. Radio astronomers will try to observe it as 2016 RB1 could be a really strong radar target during its close approach.

I performed some follow-up measurements of this object on 2016, September 07.6, remotely from the Q62 iTelescope network (Siding Spring, Australia) through a 0.4-m f/3.5 reflector + CCD. Below you can see our image taken with the asteroid at about magnitude +13 and moving at ~ 503 "/min. At the moment of its close approach on Sep 07, around 17UT, 2016 RB1 will move at ~ 2716 "/min (or about 45.2 deg/hour). The asteroid is trailed in the image due to its fast speed. Click on the image below to see a bigger version. (North is up, East is to the left).

Comets & Asteroids news

Welcome to our Astronomy blog, devoted in particular to Comets & Asteroids and related topics. This blog is maintained by Italian amateur astronomer Ernesto Guido, particularly active in the study of the small bodies of the Solar System.